Returning, where to start to get raid ready?

[Vicus]

Never really touched endgame except during first launch. I am now 66 working toward 70 and just would like to know where do I start once I am 70 to start working on my raid gear.

Which dungeons do I hit up? What dailies need to be completed? Guess I am just looking for a guide for the next steps. Especially with the new patching hitting, not sure what that brought to the table. I'm a bard if that matters.

Thanks!

[EveK]

Welcome back!

You can really do whatever you enjoy. There are many different ways to acquire gear satisfactory for raids, so the best choice is just whichever you find to be the most fun. Once you reach 70, you'll be able to earn two new types of tomestones: creation and mendacity. Creation can be used to get 330 gear; Mendacity can be used to get 360 gear. Dungeons can now drop gear all the way up to 345. Alliance raids can now drop gear all the way up to 360. You'll also be handed a set of 290 gear for completing your level 70 job quest. Eureka can upgrade that to 350 (355 for the weapon). The easy story mode version of the 8-person raids drop gear up to 350, too. And the tomestone gear can be upgraded to 340 and 370. So ... yeah, just do what strikes your fancy.

[Frizze]

Theres also a crafted set of gear at 350(and 320), and centurio seals from hunts can pick up 310 gear too. Basically, when you get to 70 start unlocking all the optional stuff. You can tell the relative difficulty of the content youre looking at by the minimum ilvl required to try it. Get the level 70 class set by completing your quest(this also gives you an ability). Then start running the new content as you get access to it. Upgrade when you can(jewelry is nice, but you get more value from armor, and weapon is most important) so you can try harder stuff, which will net you better gear, which will let you into harder stuff... and by the time a week or two have passed(potentially quicker), you should be at the point where you can start to enter the most current content. A full set of the best gear will take a bit to put together(likely a month or two), but you have plenty of time to finish that this patch and then when the next one drops you can be there on the front lines trying everything right when it goes live. If youre content with "normal" difficulty content, thats all you need(DF groups can be a mess, but they can complete all of this type of content without TOO much of a headache). If you want to get into the "savage" tier(or the ultimates), then another step to take is to make friends with people who do that. In the long run, savage success is easiest for players with a static group(these fights can be cleared by PUGs, but it requires a lot more luck and patience) - so thats what you want to work towards.